LIVERMORE FALLS, Maine — An 18-month-old boy is doing well and is not expected to have any long-term difficulties from a dog bite Saturday, his grandmother Destiny Enman said Monday.
Malaki, the family pet of five years, was an American bulldog and husky mix. It was not a pit bull-wolf hybrid, Enman said.
Livermore Falls police and the town’s animal control officer, Sue Metzger, are still investigating the case. They are working with the Androscoggin County district attorney’s office on the matter, Livermore Falls police Chief Ernest Steward Jr. said Monday.
Enman explained what happened during the incident at her Route 17 home in order to clear up some facts that she says were not correctly reported by police to the Sun Journal.
Her grandson, of whom she has permanent custody, was walking out of his bedroom while the dog was walking up the hallway, she said. She heard crying and came running out of the nearby bathroom and saw the dog was on top of the child.
Enman said she grabbed the dog with her right hand and put her left hand in the dog’s mouth so he would bite her instead of her grandson.
She pushed the dog into the bathroom and shut him inside.
Family members scooped up the child and put pressure on the gash on the child’s head to stop the bleeding while another one called 911, she said.
The child was bitten on the top of the head by the animal, which produced a gash from the dog’s upper teeth and another on his forehead just below the hairline from its lower teeth, she said.
The boy and his grandmother were taken by a NorthStar EMS ambulance to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston for stitches and treatment, Enman said.
Neither of them needed reconstructive surgery, she said.
Enman received eight stitches in one gash on her forearm and two stitches in the second gash, she said.
“They did put my grandson in surgery so it would be less traumatic, if he was sedated when he received stitches,” she said.
The doctor said he didn’t count how many stitches he put into the child to close the gashes, she said.
When Enman was released from hospital care, she went up to the operating room to be with her grandson.
Both were released from the hospital by 5:30 p.m.
“The surgeon said he looked great,” she said. “Everything was going to heal up great, and there would be no long-term damage.”
The dog was euthanized and brought to the state to be tested for rabies.
The animal coroner called the family’s residence on Monday to tell them the dog was clear of rabies.
The dog was registered in Farmington, and was up-to-date on all his shots. The family had moved out of state and had just moved back to Livermore Falls, Enman said.
“The dog has no prior history,” she said. “This was out of the clear blue.”
Her husband was bitten by a stray dog on Thursday. He brought the dog up on their porch to give him some food, she said. While the dog was eating, he attempted to pet the animal and it bit him.
Her husband was changing his bandage at the same time Malaki bit the child. She doesn’t know if that was what set her dog off, she said.
In the meantime, her grandson is doing excellent, she said.
“This kid is so resilient,” Enman said. “He acts like nothing happened. He is not afraid of the other dogs.”
The family has three other dogs, she said.
“I feel horrible about what happened, because I never thought a family pet would do that.”
At least they were partially correct. There was a child and dog involved. Other then that, yesterdays article was mostly fiction…..
Yeah, either that or ‘Nana Destiny’ is embellishing a little bit.
Whose dog bit the husband and has he got rabies now?
Lots of coincidences here.
Well facts never are truly important when it comes to the media. Tell the story first, figure out the facts later. All of them are guilty of it.
And granma says, “I never thought a family pet would do that.” Really? Have you never read a paper or listened to the news??
I’m so glad I kept my mouth shut when I was thinking about commenting on this story yesterday……. now that the “facts” have changed. I’m hoping for a speedy recovery for Grandma and the little one.
As most of us who read BDN are starting to discover this newspapers agenda is much different than what we expect/anticipate it to be. Unfortunately they are unaware of the fact that whatever you do comes back to you. I hope they are enlightened to this fact before it is too late for them to recover.
How did they come up with pit bull-wolf hybrid in the first place?
It’s the BDN…I’m surprised it wasn’t a Chupacabra-warewolf mix reported…who needs facts anyways..
I wish I could like your comment a hundred times over!
OMG, I almost just spit out my coffee!! Thanks for the laugh!
Viva La Chupacabra !!
It boils down to tbe fact that pittbull wolf scared more people than bulldog husky would have. Sensationalism!
You get what you pay for,”free”…
The story originated from the Sun Journal. Not an excuse for poor factual checks, but just making an observation.
LOL, thanks for making my day. LOL.
Bcuz pit bullz and wolfs are teh devil!!1! U dint no that?
Oh my goodness…. Lets ban all husky and bulldogs.. Clearly it’s a killer breed!! *sarcasm*
My friends peak-a-poo was attacked by a German Shepard, completely unprovoked, so lets ban that breed while we’re at it. Are any of you close minded people getting the hint yet? Any dog for any reason and flip a switch and snap at or actually bite/attack another dog or human.
They won’t see it.
Maybe we should ban people. We seem to be the problem.
I guess the Pit Bulls are killers! crew doesn’t have as much to say today.
Whew! Glad you are not proposing to ban the German Shepherd … that’s a relief!
Was this the same artice written yesterday?? Pit-bull/wolf is now a Bulldog/Husky. Child pulled over a divider is now child and dog passing each other in the hallway. Mother is now grandmother? WTH? Why was the first story even reported???
What , you want your money back after reading the article ??
You get exactly what you pay for on this site.
….Priceless.
What is Istanbul was Constantinople
Hmm,talk about a coincidence?Two dog bites within a couple days? I don’t see that it makes much difference what breed/mix it was.That particular dog is where it should be now.
Read the article genius. The dog didn’t bite them twice, the other dog was a stray dog that bite the father, had nothing to do with this dog. You should write for the BDN.
Wow,can you really be that STUPID? Thats my point,It wasn’t 2 dogs,they’re lying!
Dogs are really dangerous wild animals and should never be allowed inside a house. Why does a family with a young kid need 4 dogs? That’s a lot of money on dog food and vet bills that could be better spent on the kid.
I have a teacup mix, weighs about 6 lbs, You don’t mess with this dog when it’s eating, probably because it was a rescue as a pup from a puppy mill and there was never enough to eat. and I can understand the dog is worried about food.
One rule with this dog, don’t mess with it’s when eating. I don’t consider the dog dangerous . My other dog anyone could stick their face in the dogs dish while it’s eating and that dog would go lay down and wait for you to finish. You could pull that dogs hair, kiss their face, take food out of their mouth, lay on it, pull the ears and it would do nothing. I consider that dog as could be possibly more dangerous because of size (abt.80lbs).
For the record I’ve seen and heard of more people becoming violent with other people than I’ve seen or heard of dogs being violent.
Where did it say the grandparents couldn’t afford pets and their grandchild is going without?
Your bridge called.
I’m willing to bet that for every time a dog turns on a family member, there are hundreds of thousands more that give more to children and their families than any amount of money ever could. Pets ownership has show to have positive effects on both physical and mental health. They are best friends, love unconditionally and some even save lives. If I had/have kids, animals would have been/will be a part of their lives…..without a doubt!
Absolutely! I have our kids and grandkids feed our dogs (Golden Retrievers) from the day we get them. I have NEVER had one of our dogs make any move to harm them. The kids can push the dog’s head away from the food, take the food dish away, pretend they are eating the food and the dogs just wag their tails. The worst thing they have had happen is being licked senselessly.
That said, I would never try this with anyone else’s dogs and the kids know this as well.
David, check out my Service Dog’s Facebook Page. search ZIVA SKAKLE , The pictures on there are of my killer Golden Retrievers. Caution some of those photos can be frightening.
yeah, dogs are wild animals…sure….they have only been domesticated for 12,000 years and have evolved to read our emotions.
It is so important that the police and the news media get the facts straight before reporting on a story of this nature. This is a disgrace that it was so poorly reported in the previous story. So many people were up in arms over this and come to find out the only facts that were correct was that it was a dog attack and a baby and woman were harmed. I see no note of an apology from the media or the police for all of this incorrect information. I am happy to hear that they are both fine and with no long lasting effects.
Many stories in the media, not just the BDN, rushed to publication before the facts are known. National case in the media right now, Sandy Hook.
The father was killed first, nope.
Mother was a teacher at the school and killed there, nope.
The killer was The older son, again nope
We do not need gun control, we need media control.
That’s classic !
Come to find out though as far as the mother, she was indeed a substitute teacher which is why she doesn’t appear on any roster of permanent teachers. And this comes from the regular permanent teachers who saw her teaching at the school.
Please people, hear what I say to protect your children and pets.
I have read about and witnessed at first hand what I am about to say.
Small young children as well a the elderly are particularly at risk to attack
from a dog because the dog might not recognize those people as human.A young child is not sexually mature yet and some elderly are past their prime
in the same sense. To a dog they are unrecognizable as human because they
just do not smell the same as other people. All it takes is a move,
gesture, or stumble towards the dog to trigger an attack because the
dog may feel threatened.
Small children who suddenly run are at risk from dogs with a strong prey
instinct because to the dog they are interpreted as a prey animal and the dog is hardwired to chase that “animal” down.
So please, be very careful and watchful when small children especially
are around strange dogs in public or even the family pet at home.
I’ve had dogs all my life and also kept a wolf hybrid in my home for 11
years so I know what I’m talking about from first hand experience.
Situational awareness can help avoid a needless tragedy for a child and a beloved pet.
What you say is true and good information. Trouble is most people
are not even aware of WHAT situational awareness is say nothing
about HAVING it. You either have it or you don’t although it can be
cultivated or enhanced with training.
Thanks for backing me up on my statement.
Happy Holidays!
Dogs “playing” with a child can also cause great damage. At the time, if the victim displays fear, which a toddler would, then the attack begins in earnest.
We had one of the world’s most well behaved dobermans. It was a female, but she was large. My fifteen yo brother took her outside one night and was playing with her. They adored each other. When my brother came in (winter) he refused to take his hat off. Turned out one of his ears was hanging by the smallest scrap of flesh. He didn’t want to be taken to a hospital because he did not want his dog to have a rep as a biting dog. My brother insisted the accident was his fault. It took several hours and over seventy stitches to reattach my brother’s ear. The dog was about eight when that happened and she lived to be about fifteen and never caused any other injury.
Wow, that’s quite the sad story. It’s hard to imagine how or why that
happened.Seems unusual to me. I’ll say one thing about your brother,
he’s one tough cat. Oh !! Maybe that’s it. Take one tough dobie, add
one tough cat…well, one can never be sure of the outcome.
I hope your brother recovered okay. He must be a hell of a man.
Oh oh ! BDN you made a mistake–30 lashes and let this be a warning !
How is that even legal to write something so inaccurately?! And in light of the tragedy in Connecticut it really makes me wonder, How often does this really happen??
I cant even believe how wrong the original story was!!!! Very fishy…
Wrong!! Why would you even entertain a thought such as this?
This person lives in a cornfield, probably in the back of the woods allllllll by themselves…
there’s this funny thing called sarcasm….many people don’t quite understand it….
JMO, people should be VERY carefull with ANY dog around small children. Teach the dog that the child is off limits for rough play ( any person should be) and teach the child the appropriate behavior arond the dog.
A lot of pitbull owners lie about their dogs being pit bulls, after they do something violent. I guess they care more about a stupid breed of dogs than they care about the truth, or safety.
Pit bull owners are pathological, in general.
Alot of people that are ignorant to any given subject, lie, and try to convince others that they are not. I guess they care more about viewing their thoughts in type, then they care about educating themselves to the given subject.
I dont think there are a lot of pitt bull owners that NEED to lie about their dogs. You generalize people and animals into one group based on the deeds of the few. Geez, if I follow your logic most of humanity is useless. Soo you are saying then that pitt bull owners have tendencies towards senseless violence and exhibit habitually unacceptable behaviours? WOW. Need I point out the ‘general’ foolishness of that statement?
both an authority on dogs and a psychologist. very impressive.
but not one pitt bashing person has aplogized on this article for the bashing they did yesterday.. since the headline no longer says pitt/wolf they probably wont take the time to read it. I wonder if any of those people will say oh my gosh golly gee other dogs DO bite and maul!
And yeah, a HUGE apology is due by BDN for NOT checking facts. The story from yesterday is NOT EVEN CLOSE to this story.
For some unknown reason the child resides with his grandmother. Why mix a husky and a bulldog or allow it to happen? Too much crossbreeding today. Ultimately, the grandparents have a duty to protect their grandchild.
it’s not the breed of the dog or cross-breeding that’s problem. it’s the people who shouldn’t own dogs.
I agree…..butI think cross-breeding has gone to far. Breeding large dogs with small dogs causes many physical problems for the dogs. We know this is unintentional or some just don’t care.
Mutts are the best dogs to own.
Get rid of the damned dogs. When dogs and small children come face-to-face the child is ALWAYS at risk no matter the breed, how long it’s been in the family or what the child is doing. get a dog when your kid is 6 or 7 or 8…not suitable around an infant or toddler.
So if the dog is just suddenly upset over the presence of the father, was it really worth killing the dog over? Get tired of hearing stories about a dog biting anything vicious or not and the first thing that comes to mind is to put it down. Imagine if people were put down for reacting to something….
The sad fact is the damage to the pitbull reputation is already done.. I heard this on the radio and if a fellow pit lover hadn’t posted this on facebook I would never had seen it. The lack of fact finding and thefear that morons have about pits drives stories. Fear and sex sells and it is pathetic.
Don’t let mere facts get in the way of a sensationalizing “tabloid” headline!